New York Government records cover a broad range of genealogy subject areas that can help you as part of your research, such as land ownership, courts, taxes, and naturalization’s. Given that New York court records cover such a wide selection of topics, they could aid you in many different ways. As an example, they could aid you in finding ancestors’ residences, identify occupations, locate financial information, determine citizenship status, or shed light on relationships between individuals. The whole thing relies upon on the type of court records that the ancestors” names show up in. For Definitions of all court terms see the Genealogy Encyclopedia.
New York Courthouse records change extensively from county to county in both level of quality and volume. You will find different kinds of court records that are most likely to possess information related for your genealogical research below.
New York Court Records
Virtually all courts in America are courts of record that is they are required by law to maintain a record of the proceedings. New York courts are no exception. Even in the present day few individuals escape mention from a court room records at some time all through their everyday life as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office or as petition signatories. Nonetheless Americans of a few of generations ago also expected to be present before local court procedures should they were in session. It became a civic duty and they also could very well be fined if they could not attend. New York court files reflect U.S. history. Tucked away in courthouses as well as archives everywhere are the aspirations and concerns of lots of citizens. The odds are excellent that your ancestors have left a concise record of at least some areas of life in a court room records. See Also Research In Court Records.
New York Land Records
The majority of Americans purchased at the very least some land just before the twentieth century, making individual land records a powerful resource for genealogists. As a result, virtually every researcher, regardless of whether a veteran professional or weekend enthusiast, has needed land records to prove the existence, association, or movement of an individual or ancestral family. Deeds, legal records for transferring land or property from one individual to another, are the most used of the land records, and can provide a reputable method of tracing ancestors when no additional record might be located. Deeds are usually reasonably straightforward to uncover and frequently offer you a variety of information. See Also Guide to U.S. Land Records Research
New York Probate Records
Wills, administrations, guardianships, inventories, appraisals, and settlements are a couple of the records connected to a person’s estate or probate record. Probate records is usually an exceptional resource of genealogical details. Probate records are created at the time of an individual’s death, and are also designed to ascertain the validity of a will. In probate records, you will find the will, that will tell you what sorts of belongings the deceased acquired. In addition they often include the names of heirs, and their relationship to the deceased. See Also Guide to U.S. Probate Records Research
- New York Wills, 1626-1836
- New York Probate Record Books (amazon.com)
New York Tax Records
None of New York’s colonial tax records have survived. Surviving New York tax records begin on a county basis in the late 1780s. See Also Guide to U.S. Tax Records Research
- New York Tax Record Books (amazon.com)
New York Immigration & Naturalization Records
Naturalization is the course of action of approving citizenship to foreign-born residents. Naturalization records are an essential resource of information and facts concerning an immigrant’s place of origin, his / her foreign and Americanized names, residence, as well as date of arrival.
Immigrants into the United States haven’t ever been required to fill out an application for citizenship. Of individuals whom applied, quite a few didn’t complete the conditions for citizenship. Evidence that an immigrant completed citizenship requirements may be discovered in censuses, court minutes, homestead records, passports, voting registers, and military papers. Even if an immigrant ancestor failed to complete the process and turn into a citizen, she or he might have submitted a declaration. These types of declarations may be very helpful.
Many types of documents were produced through the naturalization process, which includes declarations of intention, petitions for naturalization, oaths of allegiance and certificates of naturalization and citizenship. Every single document may give details about a person, such as age, residence, country or city of origin, ethnic background, the date and port of arrival, the name of the ship, names of spouse and children with their birth dates and places, and earlier residences or current address. See Also Guide to U.S. Immigration Records Research
- New York Immigration Project (usgwarchives.net)
- American Family Immigration History Center at Ellis Island (ellisisland.org)
- New York, Naturalization Petitions, 1794-1906
- Early New York Naturalizations
- Ship Passenger Lists from Holland to New Netherland: Miscellaneous Ships
- Denizations, Naturalizations, and Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial New York
- New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924
- New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
- New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891
- New York Port, Ship Images, 1851-1891
- New York, Eastern District Naturalization Petitions, 1865-1957
- New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1973
- New York, Northern Arrival Manifests, 1902-1956
- New York, Passenger and Immigration Lists, 1820-1850
- New York, Southern District Index to Petitions for Naturalization, 1824-1941
- New York Genealogical Records, 1675-1920
- New York, Southern District Naturalization Index, 1917-1950
- Irish Immigrants: New York Port Arrival Records, 1846-1851
- New York, Western District, Naturalization Index, 1907-1966
- New York Emigrant Savings Bank, 1850-1883
- U.S.: Immigrants arriving at New York from Poland, Austria, and Galacia, 1890-1891
- Dutch Immigrants: New York Passenger Lists, 1881-1894
- Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore Steamship Arrivals, 1890-1930
- New York Chinese Exclusion Index
- Ship Passenger Lists to New York: Miscellaneous Ships
- Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-74
- Early American Immigrations
- New York Southern District, World War II Military Naturalization Index, 1941-1946
- New York Southern District Court, Korean War Military Naturalization Index, 1950-1955
- Research In Immigration & Naturalization Records (ancestry.com)
- Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674
- AJHS Industrial Removal Office Records, 1899-1922
- New York Immigration Records Description (ancestry.com) from Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
- New York Immigration Record Books (amazon.com)
New York County & City Government Links
New York contains 62 counties. Each county is the local level of government within its borders. Five of New York’s counties are coterminous with the five boroughs of New York City and do not have functioning county governments, except for a few borough officials. New York City is considered the county seat of these five counties: New York County (Manhattan), Kings County (Brooklyn), Bronx County (The Bronx), Richmond County (Staten Island), and Queens County (Queens).
The links in the table below link to county and city government offices and is limited to government-maintained websites. If you know of a New York county that has an official government web site but is not linked, or if the link is in error, please contact us so we may edit our database. New York State Government is located in Albany.